Cracking down on builders who do not comply with orders, the state consumer commission recently sentenced a developer to three years' imprisonment for failing to hand over apartments or pay Rs 38 lakh to two buyers.
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The builder, Vijay Kalia, expressed his inability to comply with the court order. "The accused should undergo imprisonment for a maximum period of three years or till the time he complies with the final order," the Maharashtra State Consumer Commission said. The commission said that Kalia had the remedy to challenge the order before the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission even from jail. Kalia is the sole proprietor of Puneet Enterprises.
Two complaints were filed against Kalia. While the first complaint was moved by Thane residents Prakash and Neelam Sardar in 2010, the second was submitted by Airoli-based Deorao Hippargekar in 2011. Both had alleged that the builder had not handed over flats booked by them in the builder's Thane project. On November 24, 2015, the state commission passed orders in favour of the flat buyers.

In the Sardars' case, the commission ordered the builder to hand over the first floor flat in the project measuring 900 sq ft within 60 days of the order. In Hippargekar's case, the flat to be handed over was the same size but on the second floor. In both complaints,the commission said that in the absence of the booked flats, the builder could procure and hand over flats of identical size in the same locality to the complainants within a period of 60 days.
When the builder did not comply with the order, an application for its execution was moved.